I’m kind of tired of posting about my reading of Don Quixote, and I think you may be too. Tonight something else has come up, though I can’t say I’m happy about it. King Harald V of Norway is dead.
If you watched Atlantic Crossing, the PBS-broadcast Norwegian miniseries I helped translate, you may recall Crown Prince Olaf’s and Princess Martha’s little boy. That was Harald. He achieved several historical distinctions – he was the first Norwegian prince to be born in the country since the 14th Century (due to the unions with Denmark and later with Sweden, which we like to skip over). He was the last European monarch to have lived during World War II. He was also Norway’s longest-living king.
He had broken tradition by insisting, against considerable family pressure, on marrying a commoner, Sonja Haraldsen. Since the tradition among European royalty has always been to marry cousins (Harald’s parents were first cousins), I have to think that was a wise innovation.
I saw him once, from a distance. I was living in Florida when the Norway pavilion at Epcot Center had its grand opening, and I decided to be there. I was some distance away in the crowd when he and Crown Princess Sonja came out of the building, escorted by Mickey Mouse and Goofy in a Viking costume (to Disney’s credit, there were no horns on the helmet). Crown Prince Harald (his father was still alive at the time) gave a short address.
His health had been failing for some time, and his death was not unexpected. He is succeeded by his son Haakon VIII. My condolences to the people of Norway.